I was recently lucky enough to take the Level 2 Wine and Spirit course with eight other Peaches, I know, it’s a tough job!
WSET’s Level 2 Award in Wines is a beginner to intermediate level qualification exploring wines, suitable for industry professionals and wine enthusiasts.
The course was led by the wonderful Kevin, instantly warming and engaging, we learnt everything from the principal grape varieties, the regions in which they are grown and the styles of wine produced. Through both tasting and theory, we explored the factors that affect style and quality and how to describe wines using the WSET tasting approach.
After four sessions with Kevin and a ‘testy thing’ as he liked to call it – the word exam made us all quite nervous, and lots of ‘revision’ I’m now able to look beyond the label! Friends and family now look to me to pick the wine at the dinner table!
Some of my main learnings on my wine journey so far are
- Where grape growers are the butchers, wine makers are the chefs
- I’m actually quite fussy when it comes to tasting wine
- Acidic and salty foods are friends of wine
- Noble rot can be a good thing if you like sweet wine
- My new favourite wine is Chardonnay, Wente ‘Morning Fog’, San Francisco Bay, USA
- If you like Lychees you will love Gewürztraminer (my husbands new favourite)
- Grand Cru is better than Premier Cru
- Room temperature traditionally meant serve as if just coming out of the cellar
- I’m a left banker (Cabinet Sauvignon lover) and my husband is a right banker (Merlot lover) – blends are our compromise!
Peach are great at developing their teams through various training methods. I’ll be taking what I learnt to our next drinks list training day and sharing my new found knowledge with the pub teams.
If you ever get the chance, I 100% recommend doing the WSET course, perfect if you want to be the one everyone hands the wine list to at the dinner table.
A big thank you to Kevin, Nicolette and Bex for this fantastic opportunity!